Willy loves stories. He tells himself stories almost constantly. He watches movies, YouTube and television shows, and he acts out stories he’s really enjoyed or he makes up his own. Yet, Willy doesn’t really like reading. It’s a struggle for him to follow along. This is frustrating—for both of us.

Right now we’re reading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. This is a story with a history in our family. This is the first book my mother ever remembers reading, and it’s a book I read and loved when I was Willy’s age. These facts helped me to develop a pre-reading interest for Willy. But the reading part—and the comprehension part—are still a struggle for him.

We’re keeping our reading periods brief, and that helps. We’re also going over what we read quite thoroughly after we’ve read it. That helps, too. But, it’s still a struggle.

On the upside, both Alex and Ben have been bringing Daddy (a.k.a. Mark) books for him to read to them. And they actually sit and listen to him read!